Controversy sizzling in L.A. over new restrictions on taco trucks

May 16, 2008

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Jose Ochoa has parked his taco truck on the same stretch of road since 1989, and, like scores of other lunch vendors around Los Angeles, he refused to pack it up Thursday, the first day for a new law requiring food wagons to move every hour or face $1,000 fines. Ochoa said he defied the law because he could not afford to desert his customers and because the rule gives an unfair advantage to traditional restaurants while discriminating against the lunch trucks that have served East Los Angeles for decades. When they approved the regulation last month, Los Angeles County supervisors, who govern the county's unincorporated areas, seemed not to realize that it would launch what has become known locally as the great Taco Truck Wars of 2008. By the time the law took effect, nearly 9,000 people had signed a petition demanding its repeal. In addition to fines, violators could be jailed for up to six months if they don't move their truck within an hour of parking it. In heavily Hispanic East Los Angeles, where eating carnitas, quesadillas, cemitas and other Latin-flavored delicacies purchased from a lunch wagon is practically a rite of passage, people were as hot about the issue as a plate of carne asada. "What? That's terrible! That's terrible!" shouted Roy Mendoza, upon learning that the Tacos El Galuzo truck he and his family have been patronizing for years might have to start hopscotching around town. When the law was adopted on April 15, local business people said it was about the competition restaurants faced from truckers. Restaurateurs had complained for years that with little overhead costs, the truckers were eating their lunch. "Look around, what do you think? They take away a lot of my business," said Hor Lee, gesturing to her empty restaurant's seating area. She has operated the Chinatown Express in a strip mall just a half-mile down the street from Torres' truck for 11 years. Business was fine until about a year ago, she said, when two other trucks moved just around the corner from her. "My rent is almost $5,000 a month," she said. "We pay for electricity. We pay for workers. We pay a lot of bills. I think the taco trucks pay maybe only one bill, for a permit. It's not fair." But Torres, who also wasn't moving his vehicle, said he has far more costs than the average person realizes, starting with the $65,000 he paid for his truck. He also must pay to insure it, pay for a business license and a Health Department permit, and pay a local commissary for overnight parking. Some critics have complained that the law is racist, although it was introduced by a board member, Gloria Molina, who is Hispanic, like many truck operators.